Al-Qaida-linked rebels claim Syria killings

BEIRUT (AP) — An al-Qaida-linked rebel group says it killed at least 30 members of President Bashar Assad's Alawite sect during an attack on three villages in central Syria last week.

Jabhat al-Nusra's claim of responsibility reflects the dark sectarian overtones of the civil war in Syria, where a rebel movement dominated by the country's Sunni Muslim majority is trying to topple a regime stacked with the president's fellow Alawites. Both sides stand accused of carrying out mass killings in the 2 ½-year-old conflict.

In a statement posted online, Jabhat al-Nusra said that its fighters attacked the predominantly Alawite villages of Maksar al-Hasan, Jab al-Jarrah and al-Massoudiyeh in Homs province on Tuesday. It said they seized Maksar al-Hasan for 10 hours before being forced to withdraw, while the group's artillery destroyed the other two villages.

The group, which is among the most effective rebel outfits and designated a terrorist organization by the United States, said it killed more than 30 Alawites and seized 10 Russian-made weapons, ammunition, cars and other equipment in the assault.

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It added that the attack aimed to avenge "the lives of Muslim sons and women who were killed in eastern Ghouta," a reference to the suspected chemical attack last month on rebel-held suburbs of Damascus that the rebels and the U.S. blame on the Assad regime.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said late Sunday that activists have confirmed the death of 22 villagers from Maksar al-Hasan. It said the dead ranged in age from two to 90 years.

The Observatory said that government forces regained control of Maksar al-Husan on Tuesday, killing several Jabhat al-Nusra fighters in the process. It said five regime troops were also killed in the clashes.